Driver aims at couple, killing one, police say

They heard a commotion outside and then a loud noise, like a strong burst of wind striking a plate of glass.

Lori Kurtzman, The Columbus Dispatch

They heard a commotion outside and then a loud noise, like a strong burst of wind striking a plate of glass.

In the parking lot, they said, a man got out of a car, threw his hands in the air and shouted, "Self-defense." He'd just steered his silver car into two pedestrians, killing one of them, at the Hilltop strip mall.

Andrew Mankin and Mathew Gagner stepped out of a mattress store to witness the aftermath of last night's crash.

Barry died; Petree was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital with critical injuries. Records show that the Hilltop couple have three children together.

Hollins, 24, of 54 S. Murray Hill Rd. in Prairie Township, was arrested on a murder charge. Last night, he was in the Franklin County jail.

Holzhauser said the story that officers worked to piece together at the Consumer Square shopping plaza, off W. Broad Street at Wilson Road, was a complicated one.

Barry and Petree, who were with one of their sons, apparently got into an argument with a female driver just before 5 p.m. yesterday while they were in the crosswalk in front of Kroger. One of them had shouted to the driver to slow down, Holzhauser said.

Police said the argument continued into the parking lot, where Hollins - who knows the female driver - got into his car, circled the lot and sped toward the couple, slamming into two parked cars before striking them.

"It definitely sounds like it was intentional," Holzhauser said.

Their son wasn't hurt.

Barry was wearing a gun, but Holzhauser said nothing last night indicated it was involved in the altercation.

A Kroger security officer detained Hollins. Police arrived in droves. At least 18 cruisers were parked in the lot, a line of them blocking the view of Barry's body, which remained under a sheet for hours. Witnesses, including Ashlee Irvin's fiance, Tavarus Hendricks, were questioned inside a COTA bus.

Irvin, 21, was working the cash register at the nearby Dollar Tree when she heard the crash. She rushed to the door and saw Hendricks pulled up outside. He told her to be careful, then told her what he had just seen. It was horrible, he said.

"He was like, 'They just killed a dude,'??" she said. "Everyone was running to see."